Once stable, now a liability – the story of Australia’s reeling number three batsman

Ponting’s void has been difficult to fill

It wasn’t long ago that Australia’s number 3 batsman was the best in the business. Hundreds were abundant at this position, and never was it a rarity for a dozen years. It was such a sinew in the team that selectors never panicked to find a replacement. Perpetually and unanimously, it belonged to one man.

In fact, he batted at number 3 for so long a time that West Indies cricket saw more than a dozen captains operate; Chelsea Football Club saw the tenures of six managers and Roger Federer won 17 Grand Slams. While my attempts to be humorous can often fail, Ricky Ponting remarkably almost never did when he batted at number 3 for Australia.

This Ashes series evinced what has been the case for a year now: that Australia has struggled as a batting side. While many believed the retirement of Ponting seven months ago would leave voids wide open to be filled by thriving young men, Australian cricket has undoubtedly failed to find a substitute in as much time.

Prior to the start of the second Ashes Test, Ed Cowan was the alternative. Like many of his predecessors since Ponting’s departure from the line-up, he failed to show any sort of credibility. A lot of critics argued if the left-hander was even the right option, but Michael Clarke, Australia’s Test captain, came out in vehement support of Cowan’s selection in the first Test team.

Clarke’s support proved futile as England‘s acclaimed bowling attack ran rout of not only Cowan but the entire Aussie top order. What was once to be a prominent batting position, ironically, turned out to be the team’s biggest decrepitude.

In came Khawaja for the second Test. Although he has showed off a little of his graceful footwork, the Australians still haven’t assured themselves of a band-aid for the faltering number 3 position. And they better come up something more solid if they hope to lodge any sort of comeback in this Ashes series.

A bit of research also reveals a declining trend in Australian domestic cricket. In 2000, the year that saw the rejuvenated ascent of Ricky Ponting to his mantle at number three, nearly every other batsman in the pecking order averaged over 40 in first class cricket. Michael Hussey, then an unheralded talent, averaged as much as 52 while Michael Bevan, Simon Katich and Brad Hodge scored over 54 runs per inning in first class cricket. In addition, there were a host of others with their average in the high 40s, just waiting for one chance.

Today, Australian cricket tells an entirely different story. The average age equates to nearly the same as in 2000 but that isn’t the case with batting averages. What adds fuel to the fire is the deprecating stat that not a single of their recognised batsmen is scoring at 50 runs per innings.

The lack of quality top order batsmen is just one side of the quandary. Another reason that could be levelled for Australia’s declining fortunes is their failure to field young talent during its stretch of invincibility in the 2000s.

In an era that saw the team certify its undisputed tag by capturing two World Cups without a single defeat and three Ashes series, the Australian side barely handed out caps to youngsters. To be fair, the selectors didn’t see the need to, but in the long run it has come back to bite them. It was also a commonality back then that cricketing opponents of Australia keenly waited for the team’s core to progressively retire.

Is Khawaja the answer to Australia’s batting woes?

The ageing kernel of players soon retired and those who didn’t even receive a chance had quit already. This left the selectors with not enough to experiment with, and they forcefully slotted in a string of unproven batsman, only praying it would pan out right. It didn’t or hasn’t yet, and Cricket Australia is on the brink of total disaster.

An ambitious yet ponderous look at this could be how in the 2000s, many teenagers took up Aussie Rules football or rugby instead of cricket, with greater assurance of sporting contracts – given that for twelve years, not more than 30 players donned the ‘Baggy Green’. This sounds strange at first, but it could be a factor considering that Australia consistently bloods less experienced candidates into its cricketing sides. This has even affected the availability of choices for different facets of the game – be it bowling, wicket-keeping or batting.

As Cricket Victoria’s Shaun Graf, whose interview with Fox Sports Australia captured headlines a year ago, said, “We live in a fast food society where kids want instant gratification. Playing cricket stretched over six hours on a Saturday is too long for some. No doubt it is becoming more difficult to get kids to play the longer games because it becomes an impost on their time.”

There can be other suggestions than what Graf thinks that could explain Australia’s inability to replace its once luminous top order, which revolved around the crucial number three position.

It was always going to be difficult to pluck a suitable player to fill the shoes left behind by Ponting. But the selectors lingered waywardly to stick with one player at number three. Just conceding their worst record in recent memory of six consecutive Test defeats, Cricket Australia might just need to force their consciences to stick with Usman Khawaja at number three or someone else per say (be it Ed Cowan), given it has far less to lose now in esteem.

Unsurprisingly, that hasn’t been the scenario, with as many as nine batsmen being trialled in at number three since Punter called it quits. Now, with the duo of Graeme Swann and James Anderson wrecking havoc on the Australian batting order, it might be smarter to allow a player to get accustomed to that position than constantly dwindling with the lineup.

Usman Khawaja isn’t the world’s best batsman at the moment, but he surely was Australia’s in the second innings at Lord’s. It just might be signs pointing towards sticking with him for longer than the management actually has.

At the beginning of this Test series, Ricky Ponting predicted a 2-1 Aussie victory in this Ashes series, and he chose to stick with it even after the first Test defeat.

You don’t need an Albert Einstein to point out what Australia has done wrong so far in this Ashes series. It has evidently been their batting failures, which puts even greater onus upon the anchor role at number three to hold the sail steady.

By the fifth Test, if England is to seal a 5-0 whitewash, the ever-deteriorating image of Australian cricket might be enduring its worst low ever. But we might also begin to wonder if they have finally found a stalwart at number three. Or like how the past seven months told us – quite clearly, NOT.